I heard recently that Lish is still at it. Making skis in his trailer and having others come down to make their own. I have to say that at least on his earlier ones, it wasn't hard to break them - maybe a function of horizontal laminated wood (aka fancy plywood). I bought a pair when he was still fairly new at it. My son was pretty small, but a charging skier. I wanted a pair of short, fat rockered skis and no one was making them at the time (3 seasons ago-ish). Since then there are tons of mainstream and local companies making good rockered fat short skis so the need that I had is no longer there. My son is now on Praxis BC 180s (he's still only about 5'6"-5'7", but like I said, he charges).

Here's a video of the little jump fail that broke both tips of his 333skis (actually they were the 222 model). The landing was very soft and fluffy. It should not have broken the skis and would not have broken a better made pair.

And here's a picture of the aftermath. Skis with extra rocker:

He did get 40-45 days of pretty good skiing out of the skis before that nice crash.

For those that are wondering, that little shack is the old top shack from the Lower 40 poma lift that used to be at Alpine Meadows. It is now a geocache location and was completely buried last season. That video/photo was from December 26 2010. We don't celebrate Christmas in my family (Chanukah instead), but my son got a sweet Xmas present out of this. Thankfully Phil at Starthaus was sympathetic and we got a good deal on the Praxis to replace them. And my son had fun demoing fat skis during the couple of days he was without.

I heard recently that Lish is still at it. Making skis in his trailer and having others come down to make their own. I have to say that at least on his earlier ones, it wasn't hard to break them - maybe a function of horizontal laminated wood (aka fancy plywood). I bought a pair when he was still fairly new at it. My son was pretty small, but a charging skier. I wanted a pair of short, fat rockered skis and no one was making them at the time (3 seasons ago-ish). Since then there are tons of mainstream and local companies making good rockered fat short skis so the need that I had is no longer there. My son is now on Praxis BC 180s (he's still only about 5'6"-5'7", but like I said, he charges).

Here's a video of the little jump fail that broke both tips of his 333skis (actually they were the 222 model). The landing was very soft and fluffy. It should not have broken the skis and would not have broken a better made pair.

And here's a picture of the aftermath. Skis with extra rocker:

He did get 40-45 days of pretty good skiing out of the skis before that nice crash.

For those that are wondering, that little shack is the old top shack from the Lower 40 poma lift that used to be at Alpine Meadows. It is now a geocache location and was completely buried last season. That video/photo was from December 26 2010. We don't celebrate Christmas in my family (Chanukah instead), but my son got a sweet Xmas present out of this. Thankfully Phil at Starthaus was sympathetic and we got a good deal on the Praxis to replace them. And my son had fun demoing fat skis during the couple of days he was without.

Thanks ... (of course, the first thing i noticed was those poles, which I think are just like the ones I broke season before last, and I loved those things. I still miss

them, my new ones just aren't the same.)

Our situation is a "kid" situation, too -- but different. My son is studying ski design for a semester-long project in school, and he really wants to design his own pair at the end of it. It's been a neat experience; he spent some time at Icelantic yesterday, both at the shop and the Never Summer factory where they press. Went to Venture when we were in SIlverton a few weeks ago. ANyway, we told him he could design and order as a Christmas gift, but not anything like Wagner or Folsom, of course. 333 seems to fit the bill -- but I keep wavering on whether it's a waste of money or not. On one hand, it's the experience that is the point of the project. On the other, I'm scared of spending lots of money for something crappy when we could easily buy a sure thing for the same $$$. But on the first hand, he does have another pair of skis, so if they are crap, it isn't like we have to buy something else ... back to the other hand, that dude seems really weird ...

Originally Posted by segbrown
On the other, I'm scared of spending lots of money for something crappy when we could easily buy a sure thing for the same $$$. ... back to the other hand, that dude seems really weird ...

Given where you are, why not see if maybe Donek would be willing to exchange some sweat equity for the chance to press a pair of his own skis. Sean at Donek does some cool stuff. He mostly makes snowboards, but he has all the gear to make good skis - and he really knows his sh*t. Plus he's a nice guy.

Given where you are, why not see if maybe Donek would be willing to exchange some sweat equity for the chance to press a pair of his own skis. Sean at Donek does some cool stuff. He mostly makes snowboards, but he has all the gear to make good skis - and he really knows his sh*t. Plus he's a nice guy.

Thanks, good idea ... we are going to a demo day tomorrow with all local manufacturers, maybe they'll be there,too.

Of course, now DS has his heart set on a pair of Keepers, I think, so we'll see how this goes ...

I think 333 is still around as if I remember, he has a hands on clinic / or just had a hands on clinic near Mammoth on "How to Build Skis". And at the end of the 2 or 3 day event, you had built yourself skis.